Cross-sectional shape evolution of GaN nanowires during molecular beam epitaxy growth on Si(111)

We study the cross-sectional shapes of GaN nanowires (NWs) by transmission electron microscopy. The shape is examined at different heights of long NWs, as well as at the same height...

Effect of wet KOH etching on structural properties of GaN nanowires grown on patterned SiOx/Si substrates

The possibility of the controlled removal of GaN nanowires (NWs) from an SiOx inhibitor layer of patterned SiOx/Si substrates has been demonstrated. It has been found that the wet KOH etching preserves the selectively grown GaN NWs on Si surface, whereas the GaN NWs grown on inhibitor SiOx layer are removing. The effect is described by the difference in polarity between GaN NWs grown on a Si surface and NWs grown on a SiOx inhibitor layer.

DFT analysis of crystal polarity on graphene surface

We report an ab-initio study of the preferred polarity for wurtzite GaN nanostructures on virtual graphene substrates. By means of the density functional theory analysis we show that N-polar nanostructures on graphene are energetically favorable in comparison to Ga-polar. These finding are in agreement with experimentally observed N-polarity of wurtzite GaN nanowires grown on graphene substrate. We believe that the revealed polarity preference is of importance for piezoelectric and optoelectronic device design.

Influence of Contacts and Applied Voltage on a Structure of a Single GaN Nanowire

Semiconductor nanowires (NWs) have a broad range of applications for nano- and optoelectronics. The strain field of gallium nitride (GaN) NWs could be significantly changed when contacts are applied to them to form a final device, especially considering the piezoelectric properties of GaN. Investigation of influence of the metallic contacts on the structure of the NWs is of high importance for their applications in real devices. We have studied a series of different type of contacts and influence of the applied voltage bias on the contacted GaN NWs with the length of about 3 to 4 micrometers and with two different diameters of 200 nm and 350 nm. It was demonstrated that the NWs with the diameter of 200 nm are bend already by the interaction with the substrate. For all GaN NWs, significant structural changes were revealed after the contacts deposition. The results of our research may contribute to the future optoelectronic applications of the GaN nanowires.